2012-11-03 - Des Moines, IA - Fireball

3 Bright Red Lights in a Triangle Formation

At approximately 11:45pm central time on November 3rd I went out into my front porch to smoke a cigarette. I was looking east when I noticed a bright orange/red light in the sky. Upon a second look I noticed two more identical lights. The lights were aligned like the 3 points of a triangle. I could not see a solid object between the lights but the way they moved together made me believe they were part of a solid object.

The lights were above the tree line and appeared to be very close to me. I was worried that while I was sitting there the object/lights were going to fly over my house. They appeared to be much lower than an airplane would fly. I would estimate that they were approximately 100-200 feet in the air, maybe higher but definitely below the light cloud cover. I remember thinking that when the object flew over, it was so low that I would be able to see all the detail and that frightened me.

The lights were gliding very slowly, not wavering from their position in the triangle and moving in a westerly direction. The lights were circular in shape and were about 5 times brighter and larger than the brightest/largest star in the sky.

I watched the lights for about 10 minutes as they moved west, toward me, then they began to slowly fade until they appeared no brighter or larger than the average star.

I wish, in retrospect, that I had grabbed my camera but I was too scared/in awe to go get it while the event was happening. After the lights faded I immediately went inside and woke my husband but it was too late, they were gone.

I am a 30 year old mother of two with a 4 year degree from a reputable university. I am an admitted skeptic. I have never witnessed anything like this before.